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Wednesday, 29 April 2015

Everywhere I go, I am always looking for new places to try cake or for quirky little places to curl up with a nice cup of tea. Recently on an impromptu trip to Seaburn with Mama L, I was lucky enough to stumble across a fabulous little tearoom that I didn't even know existed (don't you just love it when that happens?!) so here we have it...introducing 'The Mad Hatter'.

'The Mad Hatter' is situated near the bottom of Sea Road and is the perfect spot to eat if you've had a metro ride into Seaburn. A must visit for all fans of 'Alice in Wonderland', it's hard to resist the cafe's alluring charm even from the outside.

The day we found it, we'd already had lunch and it was that time of day when I was craving a nice thirst-quenching cup of tea. Luckily my lunch wasn't huge, so my attention turned straight to the board that featured the sweet treats. A sucker for cheesecake, I opted for a strawberry one and boy was it good! Mama L chose a toasted tea cake and we both got a brew, decaf for me, which came in the cutest teapots and cups.

Once fed and watered, I turned my attention to the decor, which was very Alice everywhere you looked. From pictures to novelties, it's like sitting in your own little piece of Wonderland!

Loving it so much, I started to wish I hadn't had lunch so we could've had afternoon tea for the jaw-dropping bargain price of £7.50 per person! So being savvy, I decided to arrange a revisit with my VBF on Good Friday so we could sample it.

Arriving on a miserable day after watching Cinderella at the cinema we were more than ready for a good feed!! For your afternoon tea at the 'Mad Hatter' you choose a sandwich from the menu and a cake, then obviously you get a cream scone and a massive pot of tea to wash it all down. I went for an egg mayo sandwich and Natalie chose tuna, so we had half of each other's. The mayo was a little sloppy but the sandwiches were good! The scones were pretty special and I'm pleased to report that we got proper clotted cream, not a tin of squirty cream in sight!! Finally, the key lime pie we chose was to die for and I savoured every last bite. For the amount of food I ate, I can't believe how cheap it was and it was definitely worth the revisit! I'll definitely be back again for another afternoon tea at some point.

So if you find your tummy grumbling whilst in Seaburn, trot along to the 'Mad Hatter'. It's a very important date worth not being late for!!

You can find The Mad Hatter online here. I'd recommend booking for afternoon tea to avoid disappointment-it's quite a popular little place!

Monday, 27 April 2015

I hope you're all well! I feel as if I always say this but I apologise for my blogging absence; I have been so busy working but I'm finally back! Expect a few posts this week to make up for my hiatus!! I am currently five days away from an amazing weekend in London so I'm trying to catch up with some old posts to make way for that, starting with a music themed post! A few weeks ago, my partner in crime and I went to see Blue and it was such a fab night we wanted to share it with you! So here you go...

*Apologies if you don't like Blue, but this post also contains cocktails, cake and fashion which might interest you non Blue fans!!*

An early finish at work, and a hectic trip to Newcastle (it was the windiest day EVER!) saw us start our evening with cocktails in The Botanist. Now, I'm sure if you're a North East blogger or reader, The Botanist will have been on your radar for quite some time. It's certainly been on mine but I'd not had the opportunity until now to visit and I have to say, I was really impressed!! It's quite possibly the coolest place I have ever been to for drinks; it feels like you are sitting outside...even though you are inside! Maybe I'm easily pleased but after you see the photos I took, I'm sure you'll agree!!

Little OOTD glimpse in the gorgeous mirror!

Ching ching daaaaarling! Delicious!

I could have sat in The Botanist for hours gossiping and drinking cocktails, however we had reservations at Zizzi to get to so it was more of a quick drink and a run to avoid the wind and rain!

After a quick bite at Zizzi, we were really disappointed to find that the cake we wanted to sample from the dessert menu was all gone, so we hot footed it to the Pudding Parlour at Fenwick for cake instead. The Pudding Parlour NEVER lets us down and we happily shared a mini egg slice and a lemon and coconut cake...best cake in the North East!

After filling our tummies with sugary treats, we managed to arrive at the City Hall just in time to catch the first support act. I have no idea what they were called but judging by our reaction, you can probably tell how good they were...

...put it this way, we maybe should've stayed for more cake!!!

We were then entertained Monica Michael (amazing voice!) and just had time for a quick selfie and a drink before Blue took to the stage!

I was so excited to see the boys again after a year and a half since their last headline tour (read about that here). Their new album 'Colours' sees them take a real change of direction and over the years they've really grown into an amazing vocal harmony group. I loved their new suited and booted image, their dancing was great and we had so much fun dancing and singing along to all our faves, old and new. I'm not going to go into it to much as I suppose you really had to be there, but I thought this would be a great place to share my photos and a great way to reminisce in years to come! We always have a fab night when we see Blue and leave beaming with smiles on our faces! Thanks boys!